Cover
FAO FISHERIES TECHNICAL PAPER 257 FIRM/FIDI/T257




Practical guidelines for statistical monitoring of fisheries in manpower limited situations


Table of contents

J.F. Caddy
Senior Fishery Resources Officer
Marine Resources Service
Fao Fisheries Department

G.P. Bazigos
Fishery Statistician
Fishery Information, Data and Statistics Service
Fao Fisheries Department

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

M-40
ISBN 92-5-102256-9

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the Director, Publications Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 1985
© FAO


PREPARATION OF THIS DOCUMENT

While the present paper was written with the special concerns of small island states in mind, it is clear that a much wider application can be envisaged, namely to other countries where trained manpower is in short supply. The growing interest shown by some groups of island states in coordinating their fisheries legislation, information gathering systems and even in management of fishery resources with their neighbours, makes it possible to consider whether economies of scale are not feasible and can be achieved at a national or international level in fields related to fisheries. Some of the difficulties of implementing conventional data gathering systems by sample survey, and in designing and maintaining proper up-to-date storage and retrieval systems for small island states on a rational basis are reviewed in this document. Statistical sampling and data storage systems are logical areas for coordination for countries sharing a common geographical area and resource, and some general information is provided that may be useful to national administrations in planning their own systems, or discussing coordination in data gathering with others.

Distribution:
Fisheries Department
Regional Fishery Officers
Selector SM
For bibliographic purposes this document should be cited as follows:
Caddy, J.F. and G.P. Bazigos, 1985 Practical guidelines for statistical monitoring of fisheries in manpower limited situations.
FAO Fish.Tech.Pap., (257): 86 p.

ABSTRACT
The main categories and uses of fisheries-related information by fisheries administrations for stock assessment, resource management, investment, planning and economics analysis, and for social and nutritional studies are briefly discussed in this document, and the appropriate scale of these activities is illustrated using as example the constraints faced by fisheries administrators of small island states in funding and manpower in the fisheries sector. Special emphasis is placed on the types of data that can be collected by fisheries officers, and which already exist, and are available to them from other sources.
Mapping current information on the resources, the fishermen, and their employment status, the seasonality of the fishing operations, the type and number of boats and gear used, location of wharfs, landing sites, markets, shore plant and boat repair and building facilities, not to mention catches and other biological information and the main routes for transshipment and import/export of fish products, is a necessary first step towards considering the type and scale of statistical monitoring, and in designing a filing and monitoring system for the fishery.
In planning such a system of work, the administrator will have to ensure that the fisheries officer coordinates with other organizations collecting relevant data, in order to make optimal use of existing manpower. Collection methods based on the interview approach and sampling surveys may have to be used with care, and emphasis given instead to the commissioning of data gathering by key individuals (data sources) outside the government and strategically located within the fishery system, and to the use of simple logbooks or sales slips (which may be legislated as a requirement for licensing of fishermen or dealers). The field activities of officers should where possible, follow a present sampling design in order to maximize utility of these observations. Their data gathering activities should also be aimed at ensuring a high level of reliability of the data received from other sources. Quality control methods should be introduced aiming to ensure high quality of the statistics produced and in debiasing wrong estimates.
Some general guidelines are suggested for design and maintenance of data storage and retrieval systems, and the importance of feedback of useful data to the industry while protecting individual sources, is emphasized.
A set of draft forms is provided for data-gathering in a variety of disciplines, that with priorization and modification to suit local needs, may provide a useful basis for an integrated fisheries data base of value to fishery planners.

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CONTENTS

1.INTRODUCTION
 1.1Manpower Shortages in Data Collection
 1.2What is the Present State of the Resources?
 1.3What is the Economic Performance of the Primary Fishery Sector?
 1.4What are the Fishermen's Earnings?
 1.5What do Fisheries Contribute to the National Food Supply?
 1.6What are the Net Earnings of Foreign Exchange from Fisheries?
2.OVERALL POLICY AND STRATEGY FOR STATISTICS COLLECTION
 2.1Frame Surveys
 2.2Current Catch Assessment (CAS) and Related Surveys
 2.3Existing Resources Allocated for Related Functions
3.RESOURCE MAPPING
 3.1Spatial Components of Statistics Gathering
 3.2Thematic Mapping
 3.3Display of Data
4.STATISTICAL SAMPLING PROCEDURES
 4.1The Sampling Frame
 4.2Catch Assessment Surveys (CAS)
 4.3Quality Check Surveys
5.PERIODIC SAMPLING SURVEYS OR CONTINUOUS MONITORING?
 5.1Periodic Extensive Sampling Surveys
 5.2Monitoring Fisheries Data
 5.3Legislating for Data Collection
 5.4Continuous Random Sampling by One or Several Statistical Officers
6.CATEGORIES OF INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANALYSES
 6.1Type and Quantity of Catches and Landings
 6.2Conversion Factors
 6.3Main Types of Gear/Vessel in Use
 6.4Identity of the Resource
 6.5Direct Approaches to Fishery Assessment: Mapping and Surveying Shelf Resources
 6.6Indirect Approaches to Resource Analyses
 6.7Catch and Effort Analyses
 6.8Size Frequency and Age Composition Data
7.COMPILATION, FILING, RETRIEVAL AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
8.REFERENCES
APPENDIX 1 -A Statistical Procedure for Continuous Collection of Fishery Data Using a Restricted Number of Recorders
     2 -
Surveys and Source Documents in Selected Fields
     3 -
The Accredited Fish Dealer and the Sales Purchase Slip as Mechanism for Controlling Sales and Export of Lobsters, and Other Species in Danger of Overexploitation, and for Collecting Basic Information on Landings
     4 -
Basic Sampling Theory and Sampling Design